Tuition Centre Slammed For Using 'Loan Shark' Tactic On Pupils Who Did Not Pay Fees
The banners, featuring 4 children whose parents had apparently failed to pay tuition fees, were spotted along Cheras and Sungai Long on Friday, 2 October.
By Tang Ruxyn — 05 Oct 2015, 01:23 PM — Updated about 9 years ago
Tuition centre apologises for using 'loan shark' tactic to shame parents
A tuition centre in Sungai Long has apologised after they put up posters in Cheras, Sungai Long and Kajang "shaming" parents for not paying up the fees.
The operating manager of the centre, who only wanted to be known as Low admitted that they went 'overboard' but stressed that the public apology is only for the kids and not their parents.
"We took such an action because we wanted the parents to pay or at least explain why they cannot pay."
"One week before we posted the banners, we warned them via calls and SMS but the parents did not respond," he said to reporters at DAP's Balakong Service Centre in Cheras.
The operating manager of the centre also said that the tuition centre had asked the parents to pay the fees several times but the requests fell to deaf ears
"One parent owes us RM1500 while the other came to us and said that she can't afford the fees, so we gave her a discount of RM600.
"So many times we have asked for money. As teachers, we try to help but these people take advantage of us. Sometimes our salaries get cut because we try to help them," he said, adding that many students have quit the centre because the parents were not confident with them.
A day earlier, a representative from the tuition centre has denied that it was responsible for the banners. This time, while Low admitted that the centre was indeed responsible for the incident, he couldn't give a definite answer on how many banners were posted.
According to Low, the tuition centre used outsiders to hang the banners.
Balakong assemblyman Eddie Ng said Low first said on Monday evening, 5 October, that he had posted eight posters, but gave different answers on Tuesday.
"I do not know how many he has posted. He first said eight, then fifteen, twenty and now eight."
"Whatever it is, I am going for the highest and will ask the Kajang Municipal Council to send 20 compounds to the centre for the twenty posters," he said.
Low said the centre will have to pay the compound and when asked if he will press the parents to pay the outstanding fees, he said, "Kena lupuskan (Have to see it as bad debt) and we will not ask them anymore,” he said.
5 OCT: 4 children were publicly shamed after a tuition centre allegedly put up banners with pictures of the pupils because their parents had apparently failed to pay their tuition fees
Edited image of the banners that was spotted in Cheras and Sungai Long.
Image via The Malaysian InsiderThe story of the name-and-shame banners was highlighted by China Press on Sunday, 4 October, after pictures of the banners, which bear the faces of four pupils and the message "Not paying tuition fees owed; how can we have this kind of parents!" in Chinese, was posted on Facebook by a resident.
The banners, which appeared in Cheras and Sungai Long on Friday evening, 2 October, drew the ire of public members who said the action of displaying profile pictures of the pupils was unethical.
The banner has since been removed, but that did not stop the public for criticising the tuition centre for apparently resorting to unethical tactics that are typically used by loan sharks
Many netizens slammed the tuition centre after pictures of the banners were posted on social media.
They said the tuition centre had acted like a loan shark in shaming the students in public.
themalaysianinsider.com
Balakong assemblyman Eddie Ng Tien Chi has also slammed the tuition centre's action and said that pupils may be ridiculed and suffer psychological trauma
Balakong assemblyman Eddie Ng Tien Chi said the centre's action to shame the pupils was similar to the tactic use by loan sharks going after loan defaulters.
"The pupils may be ridiculed by their peers and suffer psychological trauma," he said.
Speaking to the press on Saturday, Ng said if the parents concerned encountered financial difficulties, the centre could consider giving free tuition to their children instead of resorting to such an extreme means to force the parents to pay up.
One of the children's mother, who owes the tuition centre RM600, is demanding for an apology
A mother, known only as Ling, told Guang Ming Daily that she learned about the incident after her friends informed her that her son was featured on the banners.
She admitted that she owed the centre RM600, adding that she had been facing financial difficulties.
However, denouncing the centre’s move as “too much”, she said she would settle the fees and demand an apology.
However, the tuition centre has denied that it was responsible for the banners, and suggested that it may have been the work of a business rival
The operator of the centre denied putting up the banners but said she recognised two of the pupils who had not paid their tuition fees.
She said although the centre, which has been operating for seven years, did ask the parents to settle the fees, it would not resort to such measures.